Dunleith

We took the tour of Dunleith and the house itself was beautiful but the tour was costly and only lasted about 20 mins and only included the first floor. This home hosts weddings and events and is privately owned and has a definite commercial feel. Our recommendation would be to walk around the gorgeous grounds for free where you can get the best pictures and save your money for the other Antebellum tours that have a wonderful historic feel and tons of information and are set up as museums.

 

The story of Dunleith:

 

"In the flourishing years before the Confederacy, a group of hard-driving Natchez planters harvested vast fortunes from their cotton fields and built glorious monuments to their prosperity and manner of life. Dunleith is a recognized signature of those times...the Golden Age of the South.

Situated on 40 acres of green pastures and wooded bayous, Dunleith has been honored by the Southern Heritage Society for its architectural grace and beauty."

—Doris Lockerman Kennedy, ed. Historic Houses of the South. p166.

Dunleith is an antebellum mansion in Natchez, Mississippi.^[4] The previous building, Routhland had been built by Job Routh and passed down to his daughter Mary Routh. When it was struck by lightning and burned down in 1855, her husband, General Charles G. Dahlgren rebuilt the home. It was sold for $30,000 in 1858 (equal to $805,846 today) to Alfred Vidal Davis who renamed it Dunleith. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974.^[1][3][5]

The 26 room house sits on 40 acres (16 ha) along with several outbuildings including a carriage house, a dairy barn, a poultry house, and a three story brick building. The main building has a Greek revival design and includes 26 Tuscan columns built of brick and stucco. There are porches around the entire building on the first and second floor. The first floor includes windows similar to those in Monticello which roll up to become doorways.^[1]

The 1957 film, Raintree County was partly filmed at Dunleith, as was a portion of the 1974 version of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn by Columbia Pictures, and an episode of Promised Land for CBS television in 1998.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunleith